Saturday, January 28, 2006

Analogy

Imagine...You are a person who loves honey;You can't live without a glass of honey a day.

Your Glass of Honey.Everyday you get your glass of honey from the HoneyMan who passes your house on his way to the nearby town to sell his barrel of honey, and the glass of honey makes you happy.

No More Honey?Then one fine summer you realise that your honey supply is threatened! Cows during the summer pass through the area and eat up the flowers which the bees at the bee farm love. This makes you worried because if the bees don't get their daily pollen from the flowers > they won't make their daily honey > you don't get your glass of honey!

Save The Honey!Each summer when the cows come by the flower plantation you make your way to that same flower plantation and offer your services to the plantation manager; you will chase them cows away! Each summer morning you sit under the big apple tree next to the flowers and watch the bees as they do whatever bees do when they meet a flower, then when you see a cow approaching you chase it away with your stick and stones. At the end of each day you lay your tired body to sleep underneath the apple tree.

Each summer weekend when you go home to have a nice hot shower you ready yourself for another week of cow-chasing. Then you go out again for another week (or two weeks if you can manage) and ensure your precious bees get what they need to make their honey for your daily glass.

When the summer ends you go back home and you get to savour your daily glass of honey knowing you contributed to your own survival by keeping them flowers safe.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Bubble No More

The BubbleThere was a Bubble with three options:1) Frequent Travelling, Operations Stuff;2) High Powered Decisions and some Travelling;3) Secret Development with High Cohesion....and The Man in the Bubble chose (1).Note: Choice is only a preference, not a guarantee of assignment.

There was a lot of thought put into it, and the deciding factor was an upcoming real chance for a high profile business trip. There was stiff competition for that position but a few colleagues who were already in that department put in a few good words to the boss, and that worked a little magic. Add that but if magic to the his extreme enthusiasm, a few other rival preference factors, an interview with the boss, and having done above-average in the course, higher management made their decision four days ago.

Bubble No MoreThe Man in the Bubble got his choice department, INCLUDING the most coveted high profile business trip.

Hope Not Bubbles to FrothHe hopes it'll be fair winds and following seas, and might remain in that department for the next few years if things go smoothly. It'll be a chance to put what he learnt from the recent course into good practical use; the risks are high but the value is higher. He is (very) excited but (a little) apprehensive of the exponential learning curve that is already starting to creep up on him; His first step into the department was on Fryday and his task appeared daunting! But there'll be some guidance in the first month so hopefully he'll learn fast enough and be diligent enough to burn some midnight oil on his own.

On a Lighter NoteThe three International Students in our course departed Singapore yesterday to their respective homelands... they will be keenly remembered as our dearest mates in 33NJ.All the best to you Shim, Faren and Nant!

Monday, January 16, 2006

Event-filled Today

Half-day today!A 3-hour exam in the morning then a bowling session in the afternoon to celebrate International Students' Day... a chance for us to socialise and enjoy.

I enjoyed the status of "Top Bowler" for the first round notching 171 pinfalls, all the while insisting that it was only fluke. In the second round alas i only managed a measly 89 pinfalls... amazing inconsistence but proof that my first round score was a fluke. Ha!

Played some court soccer in the evening and endured some painful hits on the wound on the knee, then spent 2+ hours starting up and cleaning my b**ch, now finally showered and... hungry.

My b**chAfter a week of negligence she decided to fail me this morning and i had to spend 30min running with her and coaxing her up just now. Hopefully she'll be nice tomorrow after i cleaned her up nice and gleaming!

InterviewTomorrow, the all-important interview which will half decide if i get to go for that much sought-after 4 month trip. The other half will depend on my course performance. Four other course mates are in the running as well, wish me luck! But by the time i read your well wishes here, it would've been over already, so just think of me when you see this...

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Fryday the Thirteenth

Anything happened?YES! It did not rain (MOST of Singapore);There was sunshine and no rain the whole day!(It did pour for a bit in the far West of Singapore)

North-East MonsoonSingapore experiences the North-East Monsoon from December to early March every year with Northeast winds prevailing.December to January: Cloudy conditions and frequent afternoon showers. Spells of widespread moderate to heavy rain may occur lasting 1-3 days at a stretch, with maximum rainfall is experienced in December.February till early March: Relatively drier, with minimum rainfall in February.

Dank's AdviseKeep your clothes/leather/fabrics dry, with dehumidifiers in cupboards and drawers, and anti-mould balls in your shoes and shoe boxes. Mould grows really easily in this highly-humid season, at times reaching 100% humidity during the prolonged rains.

More Details?Monday:Spent the whole day (frantically) studying for exam 'cos Sunday was wasted playing Civilisation4.Tuesday:Spent the whole in the library (desperately) studying for exam 'cos next day exam.Stayed over at work to study as much as poosible for exam.Wednesday:Took the exam; quite easy but (disappointingly) cannot answer correctly =(Got floored on the way to watch hockey (only the last 5min of it?!).Painful and agonising night of delicate patch-work.Thursday:Painful day.Meeting at work to prepare for presentation.Dinner with Gladys at BoonTongKee; she's left for UK for one last sem.Up till late preparing for presentation.Fryday:Relatively good presentation in the morning.Collection of bike after lunch.Patch-up work by the medics.Watch soccer between our team and them; we lost 4-1 'cos i wasn't playing (yeah right!).(Catered) Indian cuisine dinner at instructor's place; great food, wonderful company!Rushing report in between everything at every opportunity.Saturday:Spent half the day fixing the RH Fish Tank.Spent the other half finishing up the report (whatever could be done) due on Monday.Stayed up till 4am playing Civilisation4; the outcome was inconclusive, wasting my night =(Today:Woke at 1pm; nice sleep in the rainy weather.Blog entry; quite crappy in my opinion, a diary of an entry.Play game... again Research.Go back to work to finish up the report once and for all.

It's Finally Over!The frantic attempts to complete presentation after presentation, report after report, and studying for that major exam, all-in over the past three weeks, including burning TWO major holidays. I really do hope the sleepless nights pay off, although deep down i know i didn't put in 100% into all of them (but i've never worked-so-hard-for-3-whole-weeks before!). I'm for my dream department (option 1) 'cos there's a 4-month business trip coming up; my good buddy's on the team, and i'm really really wanting to be there.

Enjoy the NorthEastMonsoon weather...You've got to live with it 'cos you can't do anything about it!

Sunday, January 01, 2006

New Year's Eve...

First and foremost:Merry New Year to my dear readers!

What did you do on New Year's Eve?Did you sardine yourself at the Esplanade or in the new MoS?Did you reflect on your past year at church/temple/mosque?Did you spend time at home with your family setting resolutions?

This year i didn't spend New Year's Eve like i did the past 23 years;I had a BBQ with friends from my ex-hostel.(more photos here)